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Marquette County Board to mull additional demolition fees

MARQUETTE — The Marquette County Board of Commissioners will consider changes to the fees charged for the demolition of commercial structures at its regular meeting Tuesday.

New rates for the demolition of commercial structures would be a $95 application fee in addition to 1 cent per square foot.

As required by Public Act 230, the county currently has a demolition permit fee of $95, which covers the administration portion of the permit, but does not cover allowances for inspection.

“Albeit this rate could be sustained for single-family dwelling units, it would not cover incurred costs for larger commercial properties such as demolition of the (Marquette) Board of Light and Power plant, (Presque Isle Power) Plant or the old Marquette General Hospital. These larger, more comprehensive commercial projects would require a plan review, and multiple inspections ranging from safeguards during construction, utility connections, pedestrian protection and final grading to name a few,” board documents state.

The fee schedule currently applied by the state for this permit is a $100 plan review and administrative base fee in addition to 7 cents per square foot of demolition.

At the meeting, the board will also consider adding a community health worker position to the Marquette County Health Department. Upper Peninsula Health Plan approached the health department to enter into a contract to fully fund the position, which would serve as an advocate for individuals, assist them with accessing resources, such as transportation, and help to navigate complex systems like health care.

“Approximately 50% of patients seen at the health department’s two school clinics and 98% of the Maternal Infant Health Program clients served by the health department are UPHP clients,” said a memorandum from Jerry Messana, health officer of the Marquette County Health Department.

A recommendation for an intergovernmental agreement for data exchange between the county and the Michigan Department of Technology using FetchGIS will also be discussed by the board.

FetchGIS is a web and mobile platform used by communities, industries, businesses and nonprofit organizations to improve access to location-based data and information, and develop or enhance location-based services through geographical information system, or GIS, technology.

“The partner and DTMB enter into this agreement for the purpose of making geographic information system data and digital orthoimagery data owned and maintained by the respective parties available to both parties without fee or cost, to assist the parties in performing statutory and governmental duties and activities that benefit DTMB or the partner,” the agreement states.

The DTMB is authorized to pass data through the U.S. Census Bureau.

Trinity Carey can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 243. Her email address is photos@miningjournal.net.

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